U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg speaks at the Union of Operating Engineers' Wisconsin Operating Engineers Training Center in Coloma April 19, 2022. PC: Fox 11 Online
MENOMINEE, Mich. (WTAQ-WLUK) — U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg is in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula and Northeast Wisconsin Tuesday as part of a Great Lakes ports tour.
Ports and waterways across the nation received $17 billion through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to strengthen supply chain reliability, speed up the movement of goods, reduce costs, and reduce air pollution.
Buttigieg will make two stops in Wisconsin and one in Michigan to hear how those investments benefit the communities they serve.
Buttigieg first visited Menominee Harbor. Located near the border of Wisconsin and Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, the port received a $21 million investment from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law in June to reconstruct deteriorating port infrastructure and increase rail capacity, allowing for faster movement of goods and less air pollution from trucks going in and out of the facility.
Then he will travel to the Port of Manitowoc to hear from terminal operators.
He will end his Great Lakes ports tour at the Port Milwaukee, which received over $9 million from the Bipartisan Infrastructure law to upgrade its agricultural export facilities to allow to ship more grain from Wisconsin farmers even faster.
In Menominee, Buttigieg responded to the Port of Green Bay being denied a $25 million grant. That money would have been used to build a new port terminal at the mouth of the Fox River, which would allow the coal piles to move out of downtown Green Bay.
“Green Bay has been successful in many of our grant programs. Most recently, this RAISE program was again extremely competitive,” he said. “My message to the community is: Don’t be discouraged. We’re going to sit down with them, help them put their best foot forward for future rounds, because we certainly believe in the vision that the mayor and the community have for the future of Green Bay.”
Buttigieg traveled to Green Bay in May 2023 to tour the Port of Green Bay project. In April 2022, he was in Waushara County to visit the IUOE Wisconsin Operating Engineers Training Center in Coloma.
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